A new Eden Project will be established in the UK, and it will be different from any of the others. The £32 million project will be built underground on the Jurassic Coast. The Eden Project Portland has been in the works for several years and is finally coming to fruition. MEMO and the Eden Project have paired up to create the new attraction.
Founder and project director of MEMO, Seb Brooke, spoke on Radio Solent’s Dorset Breakfast show. He said: “I believe this is going to happen now, and now is absolutely the moment.” The South Dorset-located project has been described as an “underground cathedral” and is to be built within disused quarry tunnels and mines.
Visitors will be able to enjoy an immersive experience that combines the ancient art of stone carving with cutting-edge technology to tell the story of life on Earth, with a focus on biodiversity and sustainability.
The Eden Project Portland will open in 2028 and has been estimated to cost £32.7 million.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has expressed his support for the attraction that began consultation events earlier this month.
He described it as a “hugely exciting project” and assured that funding commitments are to be made soon.
Initially, the project was discussed in 2018, with the intention that the attraction could bring more than 325,000 visitors per year to the destination. It was also predicted that the project would boost the local economy by £24 million.
The Eden Project also has a plan to build another attraction in Morecambe opening date has been pushed back by two years. Originally named the Eden Project North, it will cost roughly £100 million but work on the attraction has not yet started, despite the opening date first being set as next year. The project plans depict three giant egg-shaped structures that will look over Morecambe Bay, wooden structures, walkways that link treehouses together alongside a “hyper-real forest” that will feature large installations and an immersive theatre.